X. The Charge of Qbfcurity will perhaps not

fo eafily be got over. For the c Cologne Divines,
when Recommending thefe Homilies, as Full of
Ufeful Inftruclions, not. only Mark x what they
thought Erroneous, but Warn the Reader be-
fore-hand, that there are fome Paflages here and
there which are Obfcure, of Doubtful Meaning,
and not Reconcileable to Exaclnefs and Propri-
ety : meaning, if I don't miflake them, to Pre-
vent in fo doing that Diftafte which otherwife
the Reader might conceive upon this Account,
againft feveral considerable Truths of the Pint
Moment.

2. And much the fame is that Charge nlfo
which is brought againft him by £Du Pin. - His
Words are thefe, viz. Whoever was the Author,
his Stile is Simple, and one may fee that he was a
good Hermit, who [peaks from his Heart without
AffeHation, or Ornament \ and oftentimes even with-
out Order. He Allegorizes all, and Esprefjes a
great many Myftical Thoughts which are hardly

Intelligible In a Word, fome thiyigs have

cfcafd him, which cannot altogether be Reconciled
to good Senfe. Upon which he Cloies All with
this Reflection, viz. So difficult a thing it is in
Spiritual Matters not to J-f under foinetimcs ! So

e Bib. PP. Tom. xiv. per Marg.2>2J^e, Tom. iv. p. +_f.
\ Bibl/PP. IV. Cent. p. 5-8. ad Horn, xlili,

E 4 that

y6 The Introduction.

that here alfo is this Unlovely Cenfure of Ob fen-
rlty infifted on, but foTemper'd with Equity and
Candour, that perhaps it is Hardly, worth the
while to Cavil or Except againft it.

3. Elfe I own an Anfwer has been given not
entirely Foreign to the Purpofe. For when we
have [aid all (fays a Learned and Judicious § Pen)
that we can, the fecret Myfteries of a New Nature
and Divine Life can never be fufficiently Exprefs'd -,
Language and Words cannot reach them , nor can
they be truly underftood, but by thofe Souls that are
Enkindled within, and Awakened into the Sen fe and
Relifh of Spiritual Things. There is a Spirit in
Man, and the Infpiration of the Almighty giveth
this Under ft an ding. Thus far only in general.

4. If we defcend to Particulars, it may feem
Probable, that Du Pin might have fufpended the
Charge of Obfcurity as Alledg'd againft the Ele-
venth Homily, had he duly Weigh'd and Con-
fider'd what h Combefts had before advanced to
the contrary.

f . And what Macarius affirms in the next Ho-
mily with relation to the Double Lmage in Adam,
may perhaps be underftood in a Sober Senfe, if
conftder'd with a little Patience and Attention.
This Double Lmage may poffibly be one and the
fame thing under different Views and in different
Refpects. And to Remove the Difficulty, for
Experiment fake, let that Moral Rectitude of
Adam's Nature, which he had before the Fall
(which according to Macarius and the » Belt Au-

g The Life of God in the Soul of Man, Publiih'd by the late Bi-
fhop of Sarum, p. 18.

h Biblioth.PP. Concionatorum, Tom. v. p. 16S.

1 See This made out at large in the late Bifhop Bull's Excel-
lent D;fccurfe, concerning the State of Adam in Paradife before the
Tall. Vol. iii. And Di\ Hickess Letter of Thanks and Acknow-
ledgment for theDifcoray in Bifhop £a//'s Life, p. j- 13 to the
End.

thors

The Introduction. 5-7

thors includes the Super 'natural Gifts and Graces of
the Divine Spirit) be confidcr'd as the Conftitutive
Image of God in the Soul of Man, urd Immorta-
lity itfelf as the Confecutive Image. For want of
more Advantageous Expreffion, I am fore'd to
make ufe of Scholaftical Terms. But the Notion
under this view feems to be Founded in Scripture.
See and Compare Gen. i. 2,7. Ephef.iv. 2.4. Col. iii.
10. with Wifd. i. if. ii. 23. Now the Original
Grant or Donation of this Moral Reclitude, and
this Immortality to Man at firft was, however
Perfect, yet at belt but after the Proportion of a
Seed j when compar'd with that w\y)&a)[j.a,, Full-
pefs, or Maturity which by Regeneration . we De-
rive from Chriil. Compare again, John i. 18.

1 Cor. xv. 47 40. Of This the Firft Fruits

were Viflble in the Apoftles. But the Harvefi, Rom. vnl
or Completion of it, was the very Adoption or Re- 2S-
demption of the Body. Upon This it is the Pro-
mifes of God in the New Covenant or the Gofpel
are EntaiFd. And in Contradiflinclion to the
Earthly or Firft Adam, is This perhaps call'd the
Heavenly Image.

6. Let the Third Inftance be that Remarkable
Paflage in the Eighth Homily, where we are Told
of the Sign of the Crofts, that it Appears by means
of the Divine Light, and is Faftned to the Inward-
Alan. The Exprefiion is indeed Surprizing, and
doubtlefs never to be underilood but in a Spiri-
tual ox Divinely Moral Senfe: Much after the
fame Manner as our Author has in his Firft Ho-
mily Explain'd the Chariot of the Cherubim in
Ezekiel.

7. As to our Author's Senfe, I am apt to think

he might mean nothing more by this Sign of the Compare
Crofts Appearing by the "Divine Light, and being Gal. ii.20.
Faftned to the Invar d Man, than that Prerogative" v,'-1j
of Faith in Chriil Crucified which Overcometh , 'j^ Ym

the 4.

j8 The Introduction.

the World in the moil Complete Senfe. This
indeed is fuch an Heroical Degree of Faith, as is
not Toon Attained to, nor without the fevere Di-
fcipline of Succeffive Trials and Repeated Con-
flicts. But when a Perfon has once Attain' d to
it, He is thereby Eftablim'd. Of this let St. Peter
ferve for an Illuftration. When he denied his
Matter, his Faith was plainly very Weak. But
when he fuffer'd Martyrdom, his Strength ap-
pear'd to be that of a Perfect Man.

8. The fifft Original Occafion for this Unufual

and Surprizing Manner of Expreflion might pof-

Kxek far. ^T ^e5 l^at: Mention which is made both in the

v^m 'Old and New Teftament of the Mark or Seal
Rev. vii. which was Appointed to be Made upon the Ser-

v. 3» vants of God. And next to this am I very prone
to imagine, that the very Miraculous Victory of
Conftantine the Great over Maxentius in a Literal
Senfe, by virtue of the Chriflian Standard (in
which he was Directed to Expect Succefs, and
that from Heaven) might Contribute not a little
towards his exprefling himfelf in a Manner fo
Surprizing. For our Author, if I miftake not,
was about Eleven Years Old when this Happen'd.
And the ImprefTion which it made upon his Ten-
der Mind might poffibly never Wear off.

p. When he expreffes the Inward Faculties of
the Soul by the Members of the Spirit, in way of
Aliufion or Accommodation to the Body ; the
Candid Reader will not find it very Difficult per-
haps to Favour and Indulge him in it -y Efpeci-
ally if it be Remembred, that by the Spirit he
might mean, not the mere abftracted Soul, but
as in Union or Clad with its Etherial and Finer
Vehicle, according to the Notion of the Plato-
nic Divines.

10. There is another Expreflion that is much
more Difficult to Account for ; As when our

Author

'The Introduction. j<j

Author affirms, that we are not yet become the Ge- .*•*.•»% -
mine Royal k Purple. Surprizing, I confefs, and
to my felf at lcaft entirely New. For I don't
readily call to mind any thing like it in any other
Writer. And tho' I could fancy feveral Allufi-
ons crowded in it, no way differing from our
Author's Sentiments or Manner, yet what I chufe
to mention to the Reader fTiall be, that in the
Context our Author is evidently intent upon the
Complete Renovation of our Nature, which is not
only to be 3, Ref oration of the Perfections which
Adam enjoy'd before the Fall, but an Improve-
ment withal or Aggravation of them, as alfo of
thofe Honours and Prerogatives which are Con-
fequential to it. This, I lay, feems obvious at
firft Sight, from what we meet with both Before
and After. And there among other Particulars
This is not the leaft, that by Believing inChrift
roue are made not only Sons of God, but Kings anj]°^n'l-ix.
Priefts unto God and his Father-, i. e. when that Rev. I 6.
Faith is brought to its due Perfection and Con-
fummation, we having Waftfd our Robes in the
Bloud of the Lamb, &c. Or, in other Words,
that whatever Complication of High Perfections,
Supernatural Favours, and Royal Prerogatives,
are Implied in the Redemption of Loft Mankind,
It is All entirely owing to the Son of God Incar-
nate, and was Purchas'd for us by his Bloud: Compare
whereby we are made Conformable to Him both Ifa> ™\
in Sufferings and in Glory. x^

1 1 . There is but one Inftance more of Ob feu- Rev. xi.
rity in the Expreffion of our Author, which 13.
I fhall only mention here, as Common indeed to
him with other Writers both Sacred and Pro-

' Ov7ru yiyovetfdp u£o\'&> zro^v^:, (ixTiXntr,, sre ccvo6tv']&'t
&Km Qe'ixq ' Una fT^^^ ttJ 3Wo> e£«/7'» sre ev^tyrfy vzs^o
*f wi&futltKjis eiyct7>K$ t tvppiu, &c. Hom.xxv.

phane,

6a The Introduction.

phane, viz. the * Inebriation, or Spiritual Drunken-
f'3*-7' nefe 0f the Saints. But this very Expreilion will
foon be Softned by him that mall confider, that
Ephef. v. the spirit of God is in Scripture Oppos'd to Wine -y
* and the being Filled with the Former, is Oppos'd
to the being Overcome by the Latter. Whence
our Author has elfewhere alfo call'd this Spiri-
tual Captivation \Ah m vn<$a\i@j, making Sobriety
an Infeparable Attribute or Ad j unci: of it.